River Bandits send Dragons to 4th straight loss

Dayne Parker drilled a three-run home run in the fourth inning and the Quad Cities River Bandits went on to defeat the Dayton Dragons 4-2 on Thursday night. A crowd of a 8,368 saw the game at Fifth Third Field.

Dayton, Ohio (WDTN) Dayne Parker drilled a three-run home run in the fourth inning and the Quad Cities River Bandits went on to defeat the Dayton Dragons 4-2 on Thursday night. A crowd of a 8,368 saw the game at Fifth Third Field.

With Quad Cities leading 1-0, Parker connected on his first professional home run with two outs and runners at first and second in the fourth. The Parker homer, which cleared the left field fence, was one of only three hits in the game for the River Bandits.

The Dragons scored their first run in the sixth inning when Carlton Daal doubled to left field with one out and scored on a bloop single to center by Jonathan Reynoso to make it 4-1. Then in the seventh, Avain Rachal walked to lead off the inning and eventually scored from third on a two-out double by Nick Benedetto to make it 4-2. The Dragons did not have another base runner until Gabriel Rosa singled to center with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to bring the tying run to the plate, but Robert Ramirez grounded back to the pitcher to end the game.

Dragons starting pitcher Dan Langfield (2-2) took the loss. He worked four innings and gave up four runs on only two hits, but he walked five while striking out seven. Langfield got off to a great start in the game, striking out the side on 10 pitches in the top of the first inning and then striking out the first batter in the second. Over his first two innings, he threw 17 strikes and only two balls, but he walked four batters in the third including one with the bases loaded to force in the first run of the game.

The Dragons finished with seven hits. Reynoso and Benedetto each had two.

Nick Howard, the Cincinnati Reds first round draft pick in June, made his first home appearance with the Dragons and fired two perfect innings. He has now retired all 12 batters he has faced during his brief professional career.

The Dragons (14-18) host the River Bandits (17-15) in the last game of the three-game series at Fifth Third Field on Friday at 7:00 p.m. Nick Travieso (8-5, 3.90) will start the game for the Dragons against Quad Cities’ Jandel Gustave (5-5, 5.18).